Historical accounts and memoirs of the Vietnam War often ignore the
participation of nations other than Vietnam and the United States. As
a result, few Americans realize that several members of the Southeast
Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO), including Australia, allied with
South Vietnam during the conflict. By the late 1960s, more than eight
thousand Australians were deployed in the region or providing support
to the forces there.
In _Team 19 in Vietnam_, David Millie offers an insightful account of
his twelve-month tour with the renowned Australian Army Training Team
Vietnam in Quang Tri Province—a crucial tactical site along the
demilitarized zone that was North Vietnam's gateway to the south.
Drawing from published and unpublished military documents, his
personal diary, and the letters he wrote while deployed, Millie
introduces readers to the daily routines, actions, and disappointments
of a field staff officer. He discusses his interactions with province
senior advisor Colonel Harley F. Mooney and Major John Shalikashvili,
who would later become chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
This firsthand narrative vividly demonstrates the importance of the
region and the substantial number of forces engaged there.
Few Australian accounts of the Vietnam War exist, and Millie offers a
rare glimpse into the year after the Tet offensive, when Presidents
Johnson and Nixon both made it clear that the U.S. would withdraw its
troops. This important memoir reveals that responsibility for the
catastrophe inflicted on Vietnamese civilians is shared by an
international community that failed to act effectively in the face of
a crisis.
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An Australian Soldier at War
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780813143286
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
University Press of Kentucky
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Antall sider
432
Forfatter